Best Picture (redux): 1970s

This story is the first in a three-part series called Best Picture (redux), a historical revision of the Academy Awards’ Best Picture nominees and winners from the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

The selection of Rocky over Taxi Driver as Best Picture at the 1977 Academy Awards is either a real-life underdog story that mirrors Rocky itself or one of the great miscarriages of justice in the history of American movies.

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. By the time Jack Nicholson announced Rocky as the night’s winner, the film had won Best Motion Picture at the Golden Globes and the top prizes presented by the Los Angeles and Kansas City film critics. All the President’s Men had been equally lauded, winning best film honors from the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics and the New York critics. Network, which won three Academy Awards in the acting categories and another for its screenplay, finished tied with Rocky in the voting by the Los Angeles critics. But Taxi Driver, which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival the previous spring, had not received any major awards in this country.

Based on the awards leading up to the Oscars, there was no indication that Martin Scorsese’s film would win Best Picture. In fact, it’s possible that Taxi Driver finished fourth in voting, ahead of only Bound for Glory.

There are two types of Academy Awards mistakes — ones that were obvious on Oscar night and those that become increasingly so in the fullness of time. Rocky vs. Taxi Driver belongs in the second category.

By every survey of the American Film Institute, critics, media outlets, directors and everyday cinephiles, Taxi Driver is the best film of 1976 and among the best of all time. Scorsese’s best work is one of deep isolation, visceral violence and wide-ranging influence.

Rocky is a classic, too. But the beauty of Sylvester Stallone’s film — unlike its many sequels — is that Rocky lost his title fight. That poetry is restored here.

Love and Death
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Shampoo
The Stepford Wives
Three Days of the Condor

Best Picture |One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Best Picture (redux) |One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Jack Nicholson in a mental institution and Louise Fletcher as possibly the most hated villain in movies. Produced by Michael Douglas, with supporting performances by Danny DeVito, Christopher Lloyd and Will Sampson.

Raleigh & Co.

Raleigh & Company is a group of writers, journalists and producers working to provide a world class online platform for anyone producing interesting stories, reports, ideas, opinions and art. It helps to be funny, too.